Nauticam vacuum and leak - red light after startup

[String 17]

Looking for some possible advice.

Ive got a fairly new (Feb 2018) housing with the fitted vacuum and leak detector. This worked perfectly for a few months but now i've got an issue.

 

Basically, when i turn on the housing i get a blue flashing LED then it goes to constant red and stays there.

According to the manual this is low battery but ive now tried 4 x 2450 batteries with the same result so the chances of a bad batch are likely remote.

If i fiddle with it enough (remove, reinsert battery, turn it on/off, push, squeeze etc) for a few minutes then usually i can get it to behave itself and it works, shows vacuum and stays working normally until i next turn it off.

 

Im confident there is no loss of vacuum or moisture (contacts are clean on the detector probe). The red comes in before even fitting the back.

 

Any idea what i can do to troubleshoot or attempt to fix this issue as obviously having a known vacuum and working leak detection would be nice.

 

[Fofo 9]

I had this happen to mine in the middle of a diving trip. It turned out to be, strangely, that the water sensor inside the housing (the two metal tips) had been pushed further back in their cable holder. I put them back to the original spot and the alarm went away.

 

I hope that it's something as simple as this in yours!

[String 17]

I'll give it a go later but i dont think its that as i can fiddle for 10 mins or so around the battery area and then it usually works normally (until i turn it off again).

I get no audible alarm.

[bear35 11]

Have you tried changing the battery? It was a while ago now on my old housing but I had a similar problem, changed the battery and it was fine.

[Architeuthis 156]

Hi String,

 

I see three possible sources for the failure:

 

1.: Battery

2.: "Sensor" itself

3.: Faulty electronics

 

I have painfull experience with this problem too. In my case it was "2.": just clipped off the "sensor" (just two pieces of metal that, for some unknown reason, react very sensitive to moisture and gave routinely false alarm). Now my "sensor" is just the two endings of the clipped copper-wire: also reacts to moisture but much less sensitive...

 

See here:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=62807&hl=%2Bnauticam+%2Bvacuum&do=findComment&comment=399219

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=60610&hl=

 

Wolfgang

[phxazcraig 116]

Sounds like a connection tripping the sensor tips. On my last Nauticam housing, those tips were bent slightly toward the case, and they picked up some corrosion. I would have intermittent contact there setting off the alarm. I used a screwdriver blade to bend them up straight again.

 

On my current Nauticam housing (NA-D810), I had a weird issue this fall in Roatan. Everything was fine, at first, but at some point during a dive, the light started flashing blue, as if it had been reset. It kept setting itself back to flashing blue for the next couple of days, even though I tried both my spare batteries in it. Sometimes it would stay green all night and through one dive, then flash. At this point the housing was three years old, about 100 dives.

 

After 3 days, the problem disappeared and did not return. I'm thinking some stray moisture in somewhere...

[String 17]

Ive tried 4 different batteries so the odds on all 4 being faulty id have thought are slim.

 

After on/off switch and general fiddling, so far after 5-10 mins i can get it to come on and work. Once working it generally stays working.

 

That said on dive 1 today on the dive i got a brief (2 second) flashing red LED but then went back to green and stayed there.

 

Im not getting any audible alarms here with this at all. Ive inspected and checked the moisture probe pins and they look fine. No obvious signs of corrosion on the wires of PCB that i can see (its a newish housing).

 

Admittedly i havent taken the entire system out of the bulkhead to inspect yet as im on a boat with limited tools and time so maybe that'll be the reluctant next option.

[juliabahlsen 7]

On my current Nauticam housing (NA-D810), I had a weird issue this fall in Roatan. Everything was fine, at first, but at some point during a dive, the light started flashing blue, as if it had been reset. It kept setting itself back to flashing blue for the next couple of days, even though I tried both my spare batteries in it. Sometimes it would stay green all night and through one dive, then flash. At this point the housing was three years old, about 100 dives.

 

After 3 days, the problem disappeared and did not return. I'm thinking some stray moisture in somewhere...

 

I've had this issue with my NA-5DMKII housing as well in May when it went from constant green vacuum to blue flashing while diving, but the actual seal was still intact even with that reset light. I've only used it a couple of times since then but it's kept a constant green light every time.

 

Did you figure out what it was or did it just go away and stay away?

[ChrisRoss 150]

sounds very much like a false moisture alarm. there may be a conductive residue the contacts, you might try cleaning them - if you have it available something like some isopropyl alcohol, clean the contacts off with it and let them dry thoroughly. The alcohol should displace any residual moisture or conductive deposits. If you have a multimeter, check the voltage of the various batteries you have tried. A new one should be around 3.6V if memory serves me correctly.

 

If it keeps it up send it back for warranty repair.

[phxazcraig 116]

 

I've had this issue with my NA-5DMKII housing as well in May when it went from constant green vacuum to blue flashing while diving, but the actual seal was still intact even with that reset light. I've only used it a couple of times since then but it's kept a constant green light every time.

 

Did you figure out what it was or did it just go away and stay away?

I never did figure it out, but it went away and did not come back the remainder of the dive trip, which means it worked for at least a dozen, perhaps two dozen dives. I've not used it since October. Because it just fixed itself, I suspect moisture somewhere.

[diggy 54]

I never did figure it out, but it went away and did not come back the remainder of the dive trip, which means it worked for at least a dozen, perhaps two dozen dives. I've not used it since October. Because it just fixed itself, I suspect moisture somewhere.

That's exactly what must have happened. I had a similar experience. Borrow a hair dryer from one of the female divers :-) Or carry a small one next time. That usually solves this problem.

 

Diggy